Lurker

July 30, 2007
"That was awful!" cries one of the storytellers in the wrapper to this utterly unpleasant start to the Wicked Dead series. "There was no point! No moral! No spiritual substance." And the girl is right: this is sub-Tales from the Crypt material aimed at the teen girl set, with any vestiges of wit and charm removed and replaced with a heaping dose of meanness. Protagonist Mandy and her friends learn that their schoolmate Nicki has been murdered; readers eventually find out that the killing involved sexual torture suitable for an adults-only title. Mandy gets IM'd by someone named Kyle, with whom she strikes up a friendship Mandy receives an ominous phone call and notices that the photo Kyle sent her of himself seems to have changed since the first time she looked at it. The foreshadowing is anything but subtle, and Mandy's conversations with Kyle take a very dark turn. The writers do manage to build a good sense of atmosphere, but there's no single surprise or genuine chill in the whole book. Ages 12-up.

November 1, 2007
Gr 8-10-Violence and psychological twists form the backdrop for this contemporary horror story. Mandy has it all: good grades, a hot boyfriend, and popularity. Life changes quickly, though, when she catches Dale flirting online, and a classmate named Nicki is found brutally murdered. Understandably, the town is shaken to its very core. Mandy is further spooked when she begins receiving anonymous text messages and instant messages from a person who, though he identifies himself, is a stranger. The teen's curiosity gets the best of her and she responds to the online message sender, only to be pleasantly surprised by handsome Kyle. A friendship ensues but every time the two are supposed to meet, Kyle's plans change. Meanwhile, Mandy begins having nightmares about Nicki's killer. As her uneasiness turns to alarm, her friends try to warn her, but it is too late, and the killer's nature turns out to be far more different than she ever imagined. This cautionary ghost story is sure to grab readers' attention. Mandy's and her friends' voices and language are real, as is their way of dealing with problems. Fans of R. L. Stine's "Fear Street" (S & S) and Neal Shusterman's "Dark Fusion" series (Dutton) will enjoy this story and anxiously await its sequel."Angela M. Boccuzzi-Reichert, Merton Williams Middle School, Hilton, NY"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 20, 2007
"That was awful!" cries one of the storytellers in the wrapper to this utterly unpleasant start to the Wicked Dead series. "There was no point! No moral! No spiritual substance." And the girl is right: this is sub-Tales from the Crypt material aimed at the teen girl set, with any vestiges of wit and charm removed and replaced with a heaping dose of meanness. Protagonist Mandy and her friends learn that their schoolmate Nicki has been murdered; readers eventually find out that the killing involved sexual torture suitable for an adults-only title. Mandy gets IM'd by someone named Kyle, with whom she strikes up a friendship Mandy receives an ominous phone call and notices that the photo Kyle sent her of himself seems to have changed since the first time she looked at it. The foreshadowing is anything but subtle, and Mandy's conversations with Kyle take a very dark turn. The writers do manage to build a good sense of atmosphere, but there's no single surprise or genuine chill in the whole book. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.